So much for gangsters or communists infiltrating Hollywood; turns out it's scientists. "The science has to be there," says director Roland Emmerich, whose end-of-the-world film, 2012, opens in November. "We are all looking for great themes out there, and science has those." Audiences agree.

On the eve of a scheduled rally in Washington by parents of children with autism, leaders of federal health agencies and medical societies called a press briefing Tuesday to emphasize their message that childhood vaccines are safe and don't cause autism.

Lawyers used to crowd courtrooms to watch John Edwards work his magic with juries. Wednesday night in Boston, as he accepts the Democratic nomination for vice president in a nationally televised speech, Edwards will embark on what will amount to a 14-week closing argument for a different type of client: Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.